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too much gain between preamp and amp. how best toremedy?

Posted by mc1b (A) on February 21, 2008 at 11:59:14

**NOTE** i posted this on the amp-preamp asylum previously

first, i have limited technical knowledge, so please take this into account with replies.

i have a tubed preamp and a highly-updated vintage SS amp. very happy with both overall, but want to find the best means to better match them as the gain from the pre is too high, and high volume levels are to be had at the 10 o'clock position in volume.

the amp originally had level controls, but these were removed as a means to maximize it's potential with mods/upgrades (prior to buying the preamp). now the choice becomes to either attennuate the preamp or the amp, and how to go about it (fixed or adjustable). tried the "plug-in" attenuators, they crush the dynamics and life out of the music. some research and advice from elsewhere suggests a voltage divider network (of high quality) within the preamp would attenuate the gain accordingly. can this also be accomplished within the amp? ideally i would like something that can be removed/changed fairly easily to accomodate future matching. can putting a high quality volume control on the amp act as a gain control, without sacrificing the sonics, or should a variable gain control be relegated to the preamp as i have seen elsewhere? as you can tell, without more technical knowledge i'm just mindf#@%$&g myself in circles

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